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The Earth's Elements
The elements that make up
the earth and its inhabitants were created
by earlier generations of stars
by Robert P. Kirshner
atter in the universe was born
in violence. Hydrogen and heliurn emerged from the intense
heat of the big bang some 15 billion
years ago. More elaborate atoms of carbon, o:\.')'gen, calciwn and iron, out of
which we are made, had their origins in
the burning depths of stars. Heavy elements such as uranium were synthesized in the shock waves of supernova explosions. The nuclear processes
that created these ingredients of life
took place in the most inhospitable of
envirornnents.
Once formed, violent explosions returned the elements to the space between the stars. There gravitation molded them into new stars and planets, and
electromagnetism
cast them into the
chemicals of life. The ink on this page,
the air you breathe while reading it-to
say nothing of yarn bones and bloodare all an inheritance from earlier generations of stars. Walking down the corridors of an observatory, you see col.
lections of carbon atoms hunched over
silicon boxes, controlling distant telescopes of iron and aluminum in an attempt to trace the origin of the very
substances of which they are made.
Matter was created in a 'violent explosion, known as the big bang, some 15
billion years ago. Within a minute fraction of a second, newborn quarks coaJesced into protons. These fused further
into the nuclei of helium atoms. Gravitational forces amplified ripples in this
primordial soup, pulling the densest regions together into a giant cosmic tapestry of galaxies and voids. Inside gal-
M
ETA CARINAE, a star thought to b.e of
150 solar masses mo~ than 10,000 lig~tyears away, had a VIolent outburst. In
1841. The Hubble Space Telescope. Im"
age reveals two plumes,
gen and other elements
made o~ llitr?synthesized
ill
.
.
..
th e mteflor 0 f th c star, moVIDg out mto
the interstellar void at more than twO
million miles per hour. Some elements
making up the earth came from similar
discharges from ancestral stars.
axies, thick clouds of gas spawned
stars. Traces of those earJy ripples can
be seen in the cosmiC microwave radiation, which still bears traces of the
structure in the infant universe.
The large-scale unfolding of the universe was accompanied by a parallel
change in the microscopic structure of
matter. Carbon and nitrogen and other
elements essential to life on the earth
wcrc synthcsized in the interiors of
stars now long deceascd. Within the
Milky Way galaxy, in the familiar stars
of the night sky, astronomers can study
these processes of microscopic change.
In the early 1900s, such studies led to
the first of several paradoxes regarding
the ages of planets and stars.
The srudy of natUIal radioacti\ity on
the earth pro'vided clues about the ages
of the elements. Geophysicists looking
at the slow decay of uranium mto lead
computed an age for the earth of a few
billion years. But astrophysicists of the
early 20th century, not knowing about
nuclear processes, computed that a sun
powered by chemical burning or gra'vitational shrinking could shine only for
a few million years.
The discrepancy mattered. An age of
billions of years for the earth provides
a much more plausible calendar for bioJogical and geologic evolution, where
hum,ms often find that change is imperceptibly slow. Even though the rug
in most astronomy
departments
is
Jumpy from all the discrepancies that
have been swept under it, a factor of
1,000 demands attention.
the key to the problem was
, Curtously
.
tound ill the' processes ofnuclearphys.
.
..
ICS t h at, ill t h e t' ann 0 f ra d lOactlVlty,
'
had first posed it. If stars live for bil.
lions of years instead of millions, they
must have a continuing source of energy 1,000 times larger than chemical ener gy . Ordin
chemical chan g es involve
. ""' orce rearrangm:g
. e ectrons
e e\ectnca
th
I
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\
.
_.
III the ou.ter regIOns of alom~. Nuclear
changes Illvolve the strong force rearranging neutrons and protons within
the nucleus of an atom. The products
of the reaction sometimes have less
mass than the ingredients; the excess
mass is converted to energy according
to the well-known formula E = mc2.
In nuclear reactions the energy yield
is extremely large, typically a million
times the energy produced by chemical
reactions. Even the terminology for nuclear weapons reflects this factor. The
unit at' nuclear energy is a megatonthe energy of a million tons of chemical cxplosive.
A star that burns hydrogen, such as
the sun, has an ample supply of energy
for a lifetime of 10 billion years. Estimates for the current age of the sun are
in the vicinity of five billion years (so
we can safely contract for long-term
mortgages).
T
he nuclear reactions \\ithin stars
prmide more than the energy
that allows life to flourish. The
ashes of nuclear brnning-the
clements
of the periodic table-are the materials
out of which living things are made.
Perhaps most important, nuclear fusion,
occurring steadily over the lifetime of a
star, ensures a continuous supply of energy for billions of years and allows time
for life and intelligence to develop.
Stars, after all, are not such ordinary
places in the universe. A star is a ball of
gas neatly balanced between the inward
ROBERT 1'. KIRSHNER pursues an
eventful career in a~tronomy in a~d.ition
to one.ill bicycle racillg. After reCei\lng a
Ph.D.
ill
. ,
1975 from theCaliformaInstl.
.0 Kl tt
rote of Technolom; h e"'en t
<oak
"n
"
NationalObservatoryas
a postdoctoral
"-
fcl1ow.ln 197G Kirshner became an assistant professor at the University of
Michigan and In 1985 moved to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysks. He now chaJ1'Sthe astronomy
depart-
ment at Harvard Unlversity . Kirslmer's
work concentrates on supernovae and
extragalactic astronomy. In 1942 he was
eJected a Fcl1o\vof thc American Acactemy of Arts and Sdences.
SCIENTIFICAMIRICAN October 1994
59
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STAR CRADLE is found in the Great Nebula in Orion, 1,500
light-years away (above). This picture from the Hubble Space
Telescope codes the presence of nitrogen (red) and oxygen
(blue). At least half the young stars are surrounded by disk..
of gas and dust from which young planets are believed to
I
pull of its own gravitation and the outward pressure of the hot gas within.
The compressed hydrogen gas usually
has the density of the water in Boston
Harbor, some 1030 times higher than the
norm ill the universe. And in a universe
with a typical temperature of three kd\ins (-270 degrees Celsius), the center
of a star is at 15 million kelvins.
At such extreme temperatures
the
hydrogen atoms aft.' stripped of their
electrons. The naked protons undergo
frequent, jarring collisions as they buzz
furiously in the star's dense interior.
Near the center the temperature and
density arc highest. There the protons,
despite the electrical repulsion between
them, are pushed so close together that
60
fonn. The magnified image of the outlined part above shows
four young stars (right). Protoplanetary disks that are lit by
hor stars are bright. The cool star, shown magnified (far
right), has one fifth the mass of the sun; its disk contains
seven times the material of the earth.
the strong and the weak nuclear forces
can come into play.
/
In a series of nuclear reactions, hydrogen nuclei (protons) fuse into heliurn nuclei (two protons and two neutreJOs), emitting tlvo positrons,
two
neutrinos and energy. If the elements
synthesized
were limited to helium
(which is also made in the big bang)
and if it stayed locked up in the cores
of stars, this would not be quite such
an interesting story~and we would not
be here to discuss it. After a long and
steady phase of hydrogen fusion, which
leads to helium aCl1lmulating in the
core, the star changes dramaticaHy.
The core shrinks and heats as four
nucleons are locked up in each helimn
SCIENTIFICAME.RICANOctober 1994
nucleus. The temperamre
Oft-nec5te-mere-as~
and density
to maintain the
pressure balance. Thcstar as a whole
becomes less homogeneous--:-"Vb).le the
core becomes smaller, the outer JaKers
swell up to 50 times their previous radius. A star the size of the sun will
swiftly transform into a cool, but luminOllS, red giant. From the parochial
viewpoint of earth dwellers, this ill be
the end of history and of human crealions. Commodity future options, the
designated-hiner
rule and call waiting
will all he vaporized
ith the earth.
But interesting events take place inside red giants. As the core contracts,
the central furnace grows denser and
hotter. Then nuclear reactions that were
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previously impossible become the pIio"
cipal source of ener,S'y. For example, the
helium that accumulates ctming hydrogen burning can now become a fue1. As
the star ages and the core temperature
rises, brief em:ounlers between helium
nuclei produce fusion events.
The collision of two heJium nuclei
leads initially to an evanescent form of
beryllimn having four neutrons and four
protons. Amazingly enough, another
heliwn nucleus collides \\ith this shortlived target, leading to the formation of
carbon. The process would seem about
as likely as crossing a stream by stepping fleetingly on a log. A delicate match
between the energies of helium, the unstable berylJium and the resulting carbon allows lhe lasll0 be creat('d. With"
out this process, 'A"Cwould not be here.
Carbon and oxygen, formed by fusing one more helium with carbon, are
the most abW1dant dements formed in
stars. The many collisions of protons
with helium atoms do not give rise to
significant fusion products. Lithiwn, beryllium and boron-the
nuclei of which
are smaller than those of carbon-are
a
million times less ablUldant than carbon. Thus, abundances of elements are
determined by often obscure details of
nudear physics. A star of the sun's mass
endures as a red giant for only a few
hundred million years. The last stages
of burning are lUlstabk: the star pushes off its outer layers to form a shell of
gas called a planetary nebula. In some
stars, carbon-rich matter from the core
is dredged up by convection. The freshly synthesized matter then escapes,
forming a sooty cocoon of graphite.
Evenrually fuel runs out, and the irmer
core of the red giant congeals into a
white dwarf.
'hite dwarf is protected from total gravitational collapse not by
the kinetic pressure of gases; the
carbon and oxygen in its interior are in
an almost crystalline state_ The star is
held up by the quantum repulsion of
its free electrons. Quantum mechanics
forbids electrons from sharing the Imvest energy state. This restriction Forces
most electrons to occupy higher energy
states even though the gas is relatively
cold. These electrons provide the pressure to support a white dwarf. There is
no more generation of nuclear energy,
and no ne\v elemenLs are synthesi/.ed.
Many while dwarfs in our galaxy come
to this dull end, slowly [(Joling, dimming
and slipping below the edge of detection. Sometimes a too generous neighboring star may supply gas that streams
onto a white dwarF, provoking it into a
type I supernova and a sudden synthesisofnewelemenLs_
A:
The most significant locations for
the natural alchemy of fusion are, however, stars more massive than the Sllil.
Although rarer, a heavy star follows a
shorLer and more intense path to destruction. To support the weight of the
star's massive outer layers, the temperature and pressure in its core have Labe
high. A star of 20 solar masses is more
than 20,OUO times as luminous as the
sun_ Rushing through its hydrogen-fusion phase I,OUOtimes faster, it swells
up to become a red briant in just 10 million years instead of the Sllil'S 10 billion.
The high central temperature leads
as well to a more diverse set of nuclear
reactions. A sunlike star builds up carbon and oxygen that stays locked in the
cooling ember of a white dwarf. Inside a
massive star, carbon nudei fuse further
to make neon and magnesium_ Fusion
of oxygen yields silicon as well, along
vvith sulfur. Silicon burns to make iron.
Intermediate stages of fusion and decay make many different elements, all
the way up to iron.
The iron nucleus occupies a special
place in nuclear physics and, by extension, in the composition of the universe.
Iron is the most tightly bound nucleus.
Lighter nuclei, when fusing together, release energy. To make a nucleus heavier
than iron, however, requires an expenditure of energy. This fact, established
in terrestrial laboratories, is instrumental in the violent death of stars. Once a
star has built an iron rore, there is no
way it can generate energy by fusion.
The star, radiating energy at a prodigious rate, becomes like a teenager with
a creclit card. Using resources much fast-
,
!
SPECTRUM OF TIlE SUN shows dark absorption lines that coincide with the bright lines in the spectrum of iron (bottom).
Cool iron atoms absorb the same wavelengths of light thai
iron atoms emit when hot The matching lines prove thai the
sun's relatively cool surface, or photosphere, contains iron,
whkh could have come only from an ancestral star.
SCTENTIFIC AMERTCAN October
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1994
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ATOMIC NUMBER
RELATIVE ABUNDANCES OF ELEMENTSin the universe reveal the processes that
synthesized heavier elements out of the hydrogen (1-1)and helium (He) of the big
bang. Fusion in stars created more helium, skipped over lithium (Ii), beryllium (Be)
and boron (B) to carbon (C) and generated all the elements up to iron (Fe). Massive
stars can synthesize clements heavier than oxygen (0); these stars eventually explode as supernovae. Elements heavier than iron are made in such explosions. The
chart has a logarithmic scale, in which abundance increases by a factor of 10 for
each unit of height. Elements heavier than zinc (Zn) are too rare to be displayed.
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er than can be replenished, it is perched
on the edge of disaster.
So what happcns? For the star, at
least, the disaster takes the form of a
supernova explosion. The core collapses inward injusl one second to become
a neutron star or black hole. The material in the core is as dense as that within
a nucleus. The core can be compressed
no further. When even more material
falls into this hard <.:Ore,it rebounds lilze
a train hitting a wall. A wave of intense
pressure traveling faster than sounda sonic boom-thunders
across the extent of the star. When the shock wave
reaches the surface, the star suddenly
brightens and explodes. For a few weeks,
the surface shines as brightly as a billion suns while the emitting surface expands at several thousand kilometers
per second. The abrupt energy release
is comparable to the total energy output of the sun in its entire lifetime.
Such type II supernova explosions
playa special role in the chemical enrichment of the universe. First, unlike
stars of low mass that lock up their
products in white dwarfs, exploding
stars eject their outer layers, which are
unburned. They belch out the helium
that was fanned from hydrogen burning and laWlch the carbon, oxygen, sulfur and silicon that have accumulated
from further burning into the gas in
their neighborhood.
New elements are synthesized behind
62
SCIENTIFIC AMFRTCAN October
1994
the outgoing shock wave. The intense
heat enables nuclear reactions that cannot occur in steadily burning stars.
Some of the nuclear products are radioactive, but stable elements heavier than
iron can also be synthesized. Neutrons
bombard iron nuclei, forging them into
gold. Gold is transfonned :into lead (an
alchemist's nightmare!), and lead is
bombarded to make elements alI the
way up to uranium. Elements beyond
iron in the periodic table are rare in the
cosmos. For every] 00 billion hydrogen
atoms, there is one uranium atomeach made at special expense in an Wlcommon setting.
satellites and balloons detected the specific high-energy gamma rays that newborn radioaCtive nuclei emit.
Observations made in 1987 v.ith the
International Ultraviolet Explorer and
subsequently
v"ith the Hubble Space
Telescope supply strong evidence that
Sanduleak -69" 202 was once a red giant star that shed some of its outer layers. Images taken this year v.ith the
newly acute Hubble revealed astonishing rings aroWld the supernova.
The inner ring is material that the
star lost when it was a red giant, excited by the flash of ulaa\iolet light from
the supernova. The outer rings are more
mysterious but are presumably related
to mass lost from the pre-supernova
system. The products of stcllar burning
are concentrated in a central dot, barely resolved with the Hubble telescope,
which is expanding outward at 3,000
kilometers per second. No m'uaon star
has yet been observed in SN 1987A.
The supernova has provided dramatic confirmation of elaborate theoretical
models of the origin of elements. Successive cycles of star fonnation and destruction enrich the interstellar medium with heavy elements. We can identify the substances in interstellar gas:
they absorb particular wavelengths of
light from more clistant sources, leaving
a characteristic imprint [see illustration
at bottom of preceding page]. The absorption lines tell us as well the abundance of the element-its
amount com"
pared with that of hydrogen.
10 a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way,
interstellar gas is associated with the
T
hi~ theoretical picmre of the creation of heavy elements in supernova explosions was thoroughly
tested in February 1987. A supernova,
SN 1987A, exploded in the nearby Large
Magellanic Cloud. Sanduleak -69. 202,
which in 1986 was noted as a star of 20
solar masses, is no longer there. Together the star and the supernova give dramatic evidence that at least one massive
star ended its life in a violent way.
Neutrinos emitted from the innermost shock wave of the explosion were
detected in Ohio and in Japan, hours before the star began to brighten. Freshly
synthesized elements radiated energy,
making the supernova debris bright
enough to see with the naked eye for
months after the explosion. In addition,
PULSAR PSR B1257+12 has at least
three planets in orbit around it, the
only planets known outside the solar
system. They may be fragments of a binary companion of the original star before it exploded into a supernova, shat-
!
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spiral arms. Optical studies of the galaxy are hampered by the accompanying dust, which absorbs much of the
light passing through. But the dust also
shields the hydrogen atoms from ultraviolet light, allowing them to combine
chemically and fODn molecules (H2). In
these hidden backwaters of the galaxy,
other molecules such as water (H20),
carbon monoxide (CO) and ammonia
(NH1) all assemble. "lhc chemical v<JxielY
is quite surprising: more than 100 molecules have been found in interstellar
clouds.
In May of this year Vanti Miao and ViJehng Khan of the University of lI1inois
reported finding the smallest amino
acid, glycine, in the star-forming cloud
near the center of our galaxy, Sagittarius H2. It is amusing to speculate that
amino acids and other hio\ogically interesting chemicals could be present in
the protoplanetary
disk that accumulates near a forming star. Such chemicals, if on a young planet, would almost
certainly be destroyed by heat. But after
the planet had coo]ed, they could reach
its slll'face by way of meteorites. Indeed,
comp]ex hydrocarbons were found last
year on microscopic dust particles that
originated in interplanetary space.
We can learn much about the materials from which the earth was formed by
the simple act of picking up a pen. Made
of carbon compOlmds and metals, the
pen-and indeed the earth itsdf ~is typical of the cosmic pattern of abundances. Except for h)/drogen and helium,
which easily slip the gravitationa] grip
of a small planet, the elements of the
earth are the e]ements of the universe:
formed by stars and dispersed throughout the galaxy. (The jury is still out on
the question of whether ordin<Jry matter, composed of known subatomic particles, is a sm<J1lfr<Jction of the towl
mass in the universe. If so, then we arc
truly made of uncommon stuff.)
Whereas the sun is 99 percent hydrogen and helium, the I percent of more
complex nuclei includes traces of iron
and other heavy dements. Thus, the so.
lar system must have formed from dements synthesized by pre\ious gener-
alions of stars. Like sHyer candlesticks
from your grandmother
(but much
more valuable), we have inherited the
carbon and oxygen produced by ances"
nalstars.
Astronomers
can begin to trace a
family tree for the SO!<Jrsystem by examining massive stars '\\ithin the l\.'Wky
Way. If the massive stars in a star cluster are just now becoming red giants,
the cluster must be young. If the stars
currently headed toward the red giant
phase have the mass of the sun: the
cluster must be old enough for its sunlike stars to begin that change: about 10
billion years. The oldest dusters in our
galaxy are the globular clusters, which
appear to have an age of 12 to 18 billion
years when measured in this way.
We recognize the globular clusters as
an early generation of stars. The oldest
of these are significantly ditferent from
the sun; the abundances of elements
such as iron are often 100 or even 1,000
times ]ower. Yet even these anciem stars
contalll a pinch of heavy dements. Thus,
they evince the presence of a complete-
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EARTH DAYS
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120
140
tered its companion and settled into a pulsar. The pulsar
moves to and fro as the planets orbit it; its pulses reach the
earth sometimes sooner, sometimes later, thus revealing the
presence of the planets. The graphs show variations in the
times at which the radiation from the pulsar arrived at the
earth, separated into three component parts. The first tWo
"
§-o.006
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5
10
15
20
EARTH DAYS
variations (left) are large, attesting
times as massive as the earth, with
(green) and 98.2 earth days (purple),
planet is very close lO the pulsar but
tion (orange). It has a hundredth the
its year is just 25.3 days.
25
30
35
lO planets about three
orbital periods of 66.6
respectively. The third
produces a small variamass of the earth, and
SCI.ENHnC AMERJCAN October
J.9.94
63
ly Ul1SCcngeneration of stars, which has
no members left.
Given that the universe itself is only
about IS billion years old [see box below], the initial chemical enridunent of
the Milky Way must have been very
rapid. (Even quasars, extragalactic beacons from a time when the universe
was only a fifth of its current age, contain carbon and niITogen.) There has
been much less change in recent times.
The present-day chemical abtmdanccs
in interstellar gas are about the same as
in the sun, locked in five bilJio!l years
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ago. This is the raw material for future
stars and planets.
In neighboring gas clouds such as the
Orion nebula, astronomers can smdy
intimate scenes of stellar birth. New infrared detectors are lifting the shroud
from these cradles. (Although it blocks
visible light, interstellar dust is transparent to infrared or radio waves.) \Ve
can see infant stars as they condemw,
even before they ignite hydrogen fuel
in their cores Isee illustration
on pag-
es 60 and 61]. In addition, large telescopes such as the eight-meter Gemini
telescopes in Hawaii and Chile promise
much more detail about the process by
which stars condense.
As gas coalesces into a star, it first
forms a Totating disk ot' gas and dust.
\Vhilc the star condenses, the dust aggregates into rocky planets, such as the
earth. Residual gas accwnulatcs
to
make large gas planets, such as Jupiter.
Disks, observed \'lith infrared and radio
techniques and, occasionally, glimpsed
with optical methods, are common. Are
planets?
The evidence is much weaker than
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Supernova
1987 A and the Age of the Universe
Supernova
1987A led to an unexpected, and stringent,
test of our ability to measure cosmic distances. Remote stars and galaxies appear to be moving away from
the earth, sharing the cosmic expansion that began with
the big bang. If we can measure the distance to a receding galaxy, then by combining this information with how
fast the galaxy is moving, we can determine for how long
it has been receding. Thus, we gain a measure of the age
of the universe.
Based on observations we had carried out in 1987 and
1988, my colleagues and Icould time how long light took
to reach the supernova's bright inner ring. Because we
know the speed of light, that time allowed us to calculate
the ring's physical size. Observations made with the imperfect Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 gave a measure
of the ring's apparent angular size, viewed from the solar
system. Combining these two pieces of information yields
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BRIGHf RINGS around SN 1987Aare materialemiued
early in the star's life, heated by light from the explosion.
64
SCIENTIFIC AMERTC\N
October
1994
a distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (in which SN
1987A occurred) of about 169,000 iight-years, in good
agreement with classical methods.
A separate method we developed to measure the distance to SN 1987Aanalyzes the light emitted from the supernova shortly after the explosion. When the shock wave
reached the surface, it heated the gas and blasted it outward. The velocity with which this debris is flying out is
coded in the amount by which the absorption lines of
known elements is shifted. Knowing this velocity and the
time when the supernova exploded, we can compute how
far the debris must have traveled-and
therefore the current radius of the supernova. Given the radius, we know
its surface area.
A key piece of information now comes into play. From
the overall color of the gas we can estimate the supernova's temperature.
The latter yields the amount of light the
supernova
is emitting per unit area of its surface. Because
we know the surface area, we can find the total amount of
energy being radiated. Measuring the amount of energy
received at the earth, we acquire another estimate of how
far away SN 1987A is. In repeated calculations of this
kind, we get a distance of about 160,000 light-years-an
excellent match with the previous estimate byastronomical standards.
With the confidence that this second method gives the
"right" answer when used nearby, we have applied it to
more distant supernova expiosions. My students Ronald
Eastman and Brian Schmidt and I have now measured a
dozen supernova distances. When combined with the redshifts of the galaxies in which they erupted, the distances
yield an age for the universe of between 12 and 16 billion
years.
The estimate
assumes
that gravity
has not slowed
down the expansion significantly. Many cosmologists suspect that the universe has just enough mass to balance
the energy of expansion, slowing it down until it almost
stops. Ifthis is so, the age of the universe would be only
two thirds the original estimate, which assumed constant
expansion. Then the' age of the universe should be scaled
back to between eight and 11 billion years.
Globular clusters,
on the other hand, are between 12
and 18 billion years old. When future measurements determine the deceleration of the universe, I expectthey will
do so in the direction of avoiding a paradox. It would be
embarrassing to find 14-billion-year-old
globular clusters
in a universe that is aged only seven billion years.
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the conviction. As in cosmology, where
there is one example of a universe (we
are in it), there is one well-knmvn planetary system (we are on it). A planet is
difficult to sight directly. An observer
would have to see a small object, shining only by reflected light, next to one
about a billion times brighter.
Detecting planets by their gravitational effects is more promising. The idea
is to observe the velocity changes of a
visible star produced by an unseen object as the two execute a stellar do-si-do.
The object, having less than a tenth of
the mass of the star, would affect the
motion of the star only minutely. Although there are tantalizing hints, no
planet has yet been discovered by looking for the motion it produces in the
luminous star it orbits. Present techniques are not quite up to the task of
detecting a planet smaller than Jupiter
in orbit around a star like the sun.
Yet a spinning neutron star, PSR
BI257+12, was recently shown to have
objects that are producing periodic
shifts in its emission [see illustration on
pages 62 and 63]. When a neutron star
forms in a supernova explosion, the
core of the star contracts to a dense
sphere just a few miles across. As it
shrinks, any rotation of the original
star ends up in the rotation of the neutron star. So neutron stars are born
spinning. If the neutron star has a magnetic field, it may be a powerful source
of radio waves, emitted in a sharply
specific direction.
These objects actually exist: they are
called pulsars. Every time the fan ofradio emission sweeps by the earth, astronomers observe a pulse of radio
noise. Because the emission mechanism
is anchored to a dense flyv,.heel, the
pulse period is very precise. Extremely
subtle variations can be measured by
diligently observing the arrival times of
the pulse. If the pulsar has an unseen
companion, an observer will see the
pulses arrive a little early, and then late,
as the source approaches and recedes.
In 1992 Alexander Wolszczan, now
at Pennsylvania State University, and
Dale A. Frail of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, N.M.,
reported that their observations of the
pulsar PSR B1257+12 had periodic
changes in the pulse arrival times. The
variation was only 1.5 milliseconds,
stretched over months. It could be explained if the neutron star was being
orbited by a pair of objects. These would
have masses of 3.4 and 2.8 times the
mass of the earth. This past April these
workers found signs of the gravitational forces between the planets and evidence for yet a third object, having
about the mass of the moon.
CAP11VE STAR is created when Lawrence livermore National Laboratory's Nova
laser beams implode a capsule containing deuterium and tritium. Ten symmetrically arranged laser tubes, one of which is seen head-on (red circle), shine more
than 100 trillion watts of power onto the capsule mounted at the tip of the vertical
assembly_ The capsule collapses, compressing the atoms inside to sufficiently high
temperature and density that fusion takes place. Such artificial suns, it is hoped,
will onc day meet the energy needs of humankind.
A spinning reomant of a supernova
explosion, beaming out powerful radio
blasts, is nobody's vision of another solar system. Yet only a curmudgeon could
fail to call its orbiting objects planets.
It seems quite unlikely that these planets survived the supernova explosion
that created the neutron star. The original star probably had a close binary
companion, which is no longer present.
The planets are perhaps formed from
shreds of the companion. This is not
your ordinary family history. Nevertheless, the study of pulsars may well shed
light on the fonnation of more familiar
planets such as the earth.
The composition of the earth is the
natUral by-product of energy generation
in stars and successive waves of stellar
birth and death in our galaxy. We do
not know if other stars have earthlike
planets where complex atoms, formed
in stellar cauldrons, have organized
themselves into intelligent systems. But
understanding the history of matter and
searching for its most interesting fonns,
such as galaxies, stars, planets and life,
seem a suitable use for our intelligence.
FURTHER
READING
COMING OF AGE IN THE MILKY WAY. Timothy Ferris. William Morrow illld Company, 1988.
END IN FIRE: THE SUPERNOVA IN THE
LARGE MAGElL4NIC CLOUD. Paul Murdin. Cambridge
University Press, 1990.
SUPERNOVAE AND STEllAR CATASTROPHE. Robert P. Kirshner in Understanding Catastrophe.
Edited by 1. Bourriau.
Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
THROUGH A UNIVERSE DARKLY: A CosMIC TALE OF ANCIENT ETHERS, DARK
UA.TITR, AND TIIT FATE OF THE UNIVERSE. Marcia Bartusiak.
HarperColiins,
1993.
SC1[NTITICA1ILRICAN October 1994
65